[Characteristics of the epidemic process in pyoseptic infections in a heart surgery hospital]

The authors conducted an epidemiologic analysis of hospital pyoseptic infections on the basis of study of the outcomes of 1,517 operations on the heart and the results of bacteriologic tests. A high frequency of secondary infectious endocarditis in acquired heart diseases was revealed, which allows operations in this group of patients to be related to the category of "conventionally clean" and shows that the proper antiseptic regimen must be organized during the operation without fail. The valves of the heart in 59.3% of patients with acquired heart diseases are affected with the causative agents of hospital pyoseptic infections. The epidemic process is characterized by high intensity of manifestations, dependence on the degree of aggression and invasion of the therapeutic and diagnostic process, the type of the operative intervention, and polymorphism of the clinical manifestations and the etiological structure. The process is of the intermittent dynamic type and is marked by a tendency towards growth of morbidity and mortality with prevalence of an endogenous mechanism of contamination. The main sources and routes of transmission of infection are shown.